Every Child Matters

Reckon with the history of the Thomas Indian School (TIS), a state and federally funded residential school in Irving, New York that was in operation from the mid 1800s through 1957.

Located in the Main Gallery of the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, this pop-up exhibition (09/30-10/06) features a selection of interpretive content curated by Dr. Lori Quigley (Seneca Nation, Wolf Clan), historic artifacts and ephemera, and select images from a 2021 photo essay about the generational impact of the school on the community by Hayden Haynes (Seneca Nation, Deer Clan) featuring Jocelyn Jones (Seneca Nation, Wolf Clan).

Overview of Every Child Matters Day

By Heather LaForme Maldonado, Ph.D. Candidate in Leadership and Policy, Niagara University

On September 30, Indigenous communities across Canada and the United States will come together to honor and commemorate the survivors and those lost to the Indian Residential Boarding Schools.

Orange Shirt Day was first founded on September 30, 2013. Its founder and residential school survivor, Phyllis (Jack) Webster, Canoe Creek Indian Band, wanted to bring awareness to the individuals, families, and communities affected by the Indian Residential Boarding Schools (Webstad, 2023).

Today, Indigenous communities in Canada and the United States honor Orange Shirt Day; which bears the tagline “Every child matters.”

In 2022, New York State officially declared September 30 as “Every Child Matters Day,” a statewide acknowledgement and healing journey for the survivors of residential and boarding schools. This significant day serves as a healing journey for the survivors of residential and boarding schools and indicates a commitment by all who wear an orange shirt that every child matters; it was established to highlight the damage the residential school system did to the well-being of Indigenous children.

Indian Residential Boarding Schools

Indian Residential Boarding Schools were established throughout Canada and the United States in the late 1800s. According to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, there are 523 known Residential Schools.

In the United States, schools were established through the Civilization Act of 1819. The Act encouraged American education to be provided to Indigenous communities and, therefore, would enforce the “civilization process.” Early schools were generally run by religious organizations. By 1860, the Bureau of Indian Affairs had opened its first on-reservation school, and by 1879 opened the first off-reservation school, the Carlisle Indian School, located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania (Mejia, 2021).

The Carlisle Indian School was founded by Captain Richard Henry Pratt. Pratt modeled the school after a program he developed while overseeing the Fort Marion Prison in Florida. It was during his tenure overseeing the school in a speech that he uttered the now well-known words, “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.”

“A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.” (“Kill the Indian, and Save the Man”: Capt. Richard H. Pratt on the Education of Native Americans, n.d.)

Indian Residential Schools

Most schools were modeled after the Carlisle Indian School, and the stories that follow are harrowing. Upon a child’s arrival at a school, they were stripped of their clothing. Nothing familiar could enter with them. A child’s hair was then cut and deloused. Siblings were separated. Traditional languages were forbidden, and punishment followed if caught speaking. Abuse of all nature took place behind the school’s walls (Douglas, 2009).

The Indian Residential Schools operated for over 100 years. The curriculum was primarily focused on trades for boys, such as farming and blacksmithing. Girls were taught to be domestic maids and were given lessons in cooking and laundering (Mejia, 2021).

New York State is home to the Thomas Indian School, located on the Seneca Nation Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in Irving, NY. This school operated from 1855 until 1957. The school first opened as an “Asylum for Orphaned and Destitute Indian Children,” funded and supported by Phillip Thomas, and the room and board were provided by Rev. Asher Wright and his wife Laura (Burich, 2007, 95). In 1875, the New York State Board of Charities took over the school’s administration until 1932, when it became the New York State Thomas Indian School. New York State oversaw the school until it closed its doors in 1957.

Regardless of the administration or name, the Thomas Indian School operated under federal policy to assimilate Indian Children. Boarding schools and their policies left children without their language and customs and, in some instances, without family. The impacts of these schools can be seen in the generations that attended lacked parenting skills and affection for the children yet to come. Alcoholism was common among those who previously attended the Thomas Indian School (Burich, 2007, 108). Families today still struggle with substance abuse issues and connection to language and culture, but within that struggle, there are waves of healing. Healing from the past trauma, the boarding schools and other government policies aimed to extinguish the Native population. Healing is occurring through the revival of culture and language.

Another school two hours northwest of New York in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, called the Mohawk Institute or “Mush Hole,” had similar impacts on the Native community in Ontario and Western New York. The Mohawk Institute operated from 1828-1970, the longest-operating residential school in Canada. It directly affected children and families from over 60 Nations, with the Six Nations of the Grand River being the majority. (The Mush Hole (Mohawk Institute) | Huron Archives | The Incorporated Synod of the Diocese of Huron, n.d.)  In the documentary “Unseen Tears”, survivors tell stories of their stay at the Mohawk Institute and the Thomas Indian School. Most notable was a child’s punishment after asking for help after being assaulted (Douglas, 2009).

After a few decades of closing the remaining government-controlled schools, in 2007, in response to the largest class action settlement in Canadian history. The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement mandated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The goals of the commission were to acknowledge the residential school experiences, promote awareness and education to the public of the Indian Residential schools, and produce a report with recommendations to the Canadian government concerning the Indian Residential Schools system and experience, among other items (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2024). In June 2008, Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper issued an apology to the former students of the Indian Residential Schools (Statement of Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential Schools, 2010).

In June 2021, U.S. Secretary Deb Haaland announced the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. Its goal is to address the intergenerational impact of the federal Indian boarding school policies and to shed light on past traumas (Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative | Indian Affairs, n.d.). The announcement came out a month after the news of the unmarked graves discovered at the Kamloops Indian Residential School (Rickert, 2021).

In January of 2022, former New York State Senator Tim Kennedy introduced Senate Resolution no. 613, memorializing September 30, 2022, as Every Child Matters Day, also known as Orange Shirt Day. It was officially adopted on January 19, 2022.

While no one act can erase the scar and trauma the Residential Schools inflicted upon Indigenous communities, small acts such as recognizing its history and allowing communities to heal will assist Indigenous communities to move forward and thrive.

References

Additional Sources
Thomas Indian School: Social Experiment Resulting in Traumatic Effects

“Thomas Indian School: Social Experiment Resulting in Traumatic Effects” is a 2019 article by Lori V. Quigley, Ph.D. that provides an overview of the Thomas Indian School and the generational trauma and abuse suffered by its residents.

Unseen Tears

“Unseen Tears” is a 2009 documentary co-produced by Ruchatneet Printup (Tuscarora Nation, Turtle Clan) and Ron Douglas highlights the generational impact of boarding schools in Western New York and Ontario on local Haudenosaunee families.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) is an organization formed in 2011-2 dedicated to understanding and addressing the ongoing trauma created by the US Indian Boarding School Policy. Visit their website to listen to Oral History interviews with boarding school survivors, educational resources, community gatherings, advocacy, and more. 

Orange Shirt Society

Learn about the origin of the Orange Shirt Day movement through the Orange Shirt Society, founded in British Columbia by Phyllis Webstad (Northern Secwépemc (Shuswap), from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation (Canoe Creek Indian Band).